Southampton last night sensationally sacked Mauricio Pellegrino after just nine months in charge.

Pellegrino paid the price for overseeing a disastrous run of results that left Southampton in huge relegation danger and was given the boot by the south coast club.

Southampton have won just one of their last 17 league games and slid down the table to fourth bottom leaving them just one point outside the drop zone with eight games to go.

And they made the change in a bid to avoid slipping into the bottom three and potentially the Championship.

They hope to have his replacement, who will be their fifth manager in four years, in charge in time for Sunday's FA Cup quarter-final at Wigan.

Rather than look for an interim manager to see them through to the end of the season before reassessing things Pellegrino's successor will be a permanent appointment.

And the search for suitable and available candidates was well underway last night.

Marco Silva, out of work since being sacked by Watford in January, could be considered again though any approach would be complicated by the fact he was overlooked by Southampton last summer in favour of Pellegrino and interest from Benfica.

Mauricio Pellegrino has been sacked with just eight games left in the season (Image: Getty Images Europe)

Pellegrino has the third worst points per game record for a Saints boss in Premier League history (Image: 2018 Getty Images)

There has been a fear around Southampton for some time that they were sleep walking towards relegation under Pellegrino who failed to justify the club's decision to appoint him as Claude Puel's successor in June.

Puel was axed despite leading Southampton to eighth and the EFL Cup final last season.

The Frenchman's uninspiring football failed to impress the fans and in the end he lost the dressing room.

But Southampton's football has been just as bad under Pellegrino and only one team, rock-bottom West Brom, have won less games than the five Saints have managed this term.

Their only league win since November came against West Brom at the start of February.

Saturday's humiliating 3-0 defeat at relegation rivals Newcastle was the final straw and prompted talks between members of the Saints hierarchy during the remainder of the weekend and yesterday that ended with him being told he was being dismissed before the squad were informed of the change.

Argentinian Pellegrino admitted some of his players gave up at St James's Park.

And it was a confession that underlined his biggest problem at St Mary's –

his failure to get his message across and convince the players to buy into his methods.

And the search for suitable and available candidates was well underway last night.

Marco Silva, out of work since being sacked by Watford in January, could be considered again though any approach would be complicated by the fact he was overlooked by Southampton last summer in favour of Pellegrino and interest from Benfica.

There has been a fear around Southampton for some time that they were sleep walking towards relegation under Pellegrino who failed to justify the club's decision to appoint him as Claude Puel's successor in June.

Puel was axed despite leading Southampton to eighth and the EFL Cup final last season.

The Frenchman's uninspiring football failed to impress the fans and in the end he lost the dressing room.

But Southampton's football has been just as bad under Pellegrino and only one team, rock-bottom West Brom, have won less games than the five Saints have managed this term.

Marco Silva could be back in a job (Image: Plumb Images/Leicester City/Getty)

Their only league win since November came against West Brom at the start of February.

Saturday's humiliating 3-0 defeat at relegation rivals Newcastle was the final straw and prompted talks between members of the Saints hierarchy during the remainder of the weekend and yesterday that ended with him being told he was being dismissed before the squad were informed of the change.

Argentinian Pellegrino admitted some of his players gave up at St James's Park.

And it was a confession that underlined his biggest problem at St Mary's –

his failure to get his message across and convince the players to buy into his methods.